Thursday, 21 September 2017

A cop based at Police General Headquarters (PGHQ) was hauled before the courts yesterday after he reportedly wrote in a Whatsapp message that the national police spokesperson Charity Charamba was an “idiot”.James Mabasa, 38, was charged with contravening the Post and Telecommunication Act for allegedly sending offensive messages over the phone. He appeared before Harare magistrate Nomsa Sabarauta but the trial could not kick off because Charamba, who is the State’s star witness, was not available to testify.“Your worship we seek a postponement of the matter on the basis that our witness is not available today because of work commitments. She is on national duty,” prosecutor Fransisca Mukumbiri told the court. However, Sabarauta struck the matter of the roll and advised Mukumbiri to proceed by way of summons when ready. The complainant is Charamba in her capacity as head of Press and Public relations in the Zimbabwe Republic Police. The second complainant is Pikisai Chipwazo, a cop stationed at Criminal Investigations Department, Homicide in Harare. The State alleged that on May 15 this year detectives from CID Homicide Harare received an anonymous Whatsapp message allegedly denigrating Charamba’s office and her personality. The message read: “The police used to hold meetings with magistrates and other law enforcement stakeholders to map a way of reducing lawlessness but now it’s the other way round. The public now has meetings with lawyers on ways to disregard the police. The public relations office is headed by an idiot who does not know that she has to encourage the public to be compliant with the police.”It was alleged that Mabasa was immediately arrested and taken to Harare Central Police Station. While being interviewed in connection with the message, Mabasa allegedly grabbed his Techno tablet and smashed it onto the floor resultantly damaging it. According to State papers Mabasa did so intending to destroy evidence linking him to the offence and was consequently charged with obstructing the course of justice. Daily News